View source for Musa Dagh

{{Short description|Part of the Armenian genocide}}
{{about|the mountain and battle in Hatay Province, Turkey|the mountain in Antalya Province|Musa Dağı (Antalya Province)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Musa Dagh defense
| partof            = the [[Armenian genocide]]
| image             = Musa-dagh.gif
| image_size        = 280px
| caption           = Map of the Musa Dagh Armenian Self-Defense.
| date              = July 21 – September 12, 1915<br />({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=7|day1=21|year1=1915|month2=9|day2=12|year2=1915}})
| place             = [[Ottoman Empire]]
| result            = [[Armenia|Armenian]] victory<br/>Successful Armenian resistance<br />Eventual rescue of Armenians by the [[French navy]]
| combatant1        = {{flag|Ottoman Empire}}
| combatant2        = [[Armenians in the Ottoman Empire|Armenians]]
| commander1        = Captain Rifaat Bey
| commander2        = Reverend Dikran Antreassian<br>Yesayi Yakhubian<br>Yesayi Aprahamian <br>Nerses Kazandjian <br>Movses Ter-Kalutsian
| strength1         = 19,000 (4,000 regular troops and 15,000 fighters)
| strength2         = 600 fighters<ref name="Peter">[[The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response]] By [[Peter Balakian]], p. 210</ref><br/>4,000 Armenian civilians
| casualties1       = Unknown
| casualties2       = 18 fighters killed<br/>12 injured
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Armenian national movement (1862-1921)}}
}}

'''Musa Dagh''' ({{langx|tr|Musa Dağı}}; {{langx|hy|Մուսա լեռ|Musa leṛ}};<ref name=hda>{{cite book |last=Adalian |first=Rouben |title=Historical Dictionary of Armenia |pages=449 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QS-vSjHObOYC&pg=PA449 |isbn=9780810874503 |date= 2010 |publisher=Scarecrow Press }}</ref> {{langx|ar|جبل موسى|Jebel Musa}}; meaning "[[Moses (given name)|Moses]] Mountain") is a mountain in the [[Hatay Province]] of Turkey. In 1915, it was the location of a successful [[Armenians|Armenian]] resistance to the [[Armenian genocide]], an event that inspired [[Franz Werfel]] to write the novel ''[[The Forty Days of Musa Dagh]]''.

==History==
The deportation orders of the Armenian population of modern-day Turkey, issued by the Ottoman government, in July 1915 reached the six Armenian villages of the Musa Dagh region: Kabusia (Kaboussieh), Yoghunoluk, Bitias, [[Vakıflı, Samandağ|Vakef]], Kheter Bey (Khodr Bey) and Haji Habibli.<ref>''New Outlook'', Vol. 111, edited by Alfred Emanuel Smith, p. 800 {{ISBN?}}</ref> As [[Ottoman Army (1861–1922)|Ottoman Turkish forces]] converged upon the town, the populace, aware of the impending danger, refused deportation and fell back upon Musa mountain, thwarting assaults for fifty-three days, from July to September 1915.<ref>Richard G. Hovannisian : ''Remembrance and denial: the case of the Armenian genocide'' – p. 161</ref><ref>''Resistance and revenge: the Armenian assassination of the Turkish leaders ...'' By Jacques Derogy p. 22</ref> One of the leaders of the revolt was Movses Der Kalousdian, whose Armenian first name was the same as that of the mountain. French warships of the 3rd Squadron in the [[Mediterranean]] under command of Vice Admiral [[Louis Dartige du Fournet]], sighted the survivors just as ammunition and food provisions were running out.<ref>''Franz Werfel: an Austrian writer reassessed'' – by Lothar Huber, p. 176</ref> Five French ships, beginning with the [[protected cruiser]] {{ship|French cruiser|Guichen|1897|2}}, under the command of Captain [[Jean-Joseph Brisson]], evacuated 3,004 women and children and over 1,000 men from Musa Dagh to safety in [[Port Said]].<ref>''The great war for civilisation: the conquest of the Middle East'' by Robert Fisk.</ref><ref>''The Christian minorities in Turkey'' – Wilhelm Baum, p. 92.</ref><ref>''The new presence'' by Nadace M.J. Stránského, p.14.</ref> The other French ships were the [[seaplane carrier]] {{ship|French seaplane carrier|Foudre||2}}, the protected cruiser {{ship|French cruiser|D'Estrées||2}}, and the [[armored cruiser]]s {{ship|French cruiser|Amiral Charner||2}} and {{ship|French cruiser|Dupleix|1900|2}}.<ref>[https://www.imprescriptible.fr/documents/archives/francaises/99.htm '' Le Contre-Amiral Darrieus, Commandant la 2e Division et p. i. la 3e Escadre de la Méditerranée, à M. Victor Augagneur, Ministre de la Marine''] (22 septembre 1915).</ref>

Starting in 1918, when the [[Sanjak of Alexandretta]] came under French control, the population of the six Armenian villages returned to their homes. In 1932, a monument was erected at the top of the mountain to commemorate the event.<ref>"La Reconnaissance Armenienne" in ''l'Illustration'' p. xxIi, 29 October 1932.</ref>

The mountain was in [[Aleppo Vilayet]], [[Ottoman Empire]], until after [[World War I]], when the French took possession and put it in [[Sanjak of Alexandretta]], [[Mandate of Syria]].

On 29 June 1939, following an agreement between France and [[Turkey]], the province was given to Turkey. Afterwards Armenians from six of the villages emigrated from [[Hatay Province]], while some of the residents of [[Vakıflı]] village chose to stay.<ref name="radikal020729">{{cite news|first=Celal|last=Başlangıç|url=http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=44839|title=Musa'dan notlar|publisher=Radikal|date=29 July 2002|access-date=2007-02-22|language=tr|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930210308/http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=44839|archive-date=30 September 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Vakıflı is the only remaining ethnic Armenian village in Turkey,<ref name="hurriyet050731">{{cite news|first=Ersin|last=Kalkan|url=http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/haber.aspx?id=338656|publisher=Hürriyet| title=Türkiye'nin tek Ermeni köyü Vakıflı |date=31 July 2005|access-date=2007-02-22|language=tr}}</ref><ref name="lonelyplanet">{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Verity |title=Turkey |year=2007 |publisher=[[Lonely Planet]] |isbn=978-1741045567 | url=https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetturk00veri|url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetturk00veri/page/438 438] |quote=Vakifli. }}</ref> with a population of  140 [[Armenians in Turkey|Turkish-Armenians]]. Most who left Hatay in 1939 emigrated to [[Lebanon]] where they resettled in the town of [[Anjar, Lebanon|Anjar]]. Today, the town of Anjar is divided into six districts, each commemorating one of the villages of Musa Dagh.

As the French squads came to the rescue of the survivors, the chief priest is quoted as having said, "The evil only happened... to enable God to show us His goodness."<ref>[[Franz Werfel]], ''the faith of an exile: from Prague to Beverly Hills'' By Lionel Steiman, p. 86</ref> This event was depicted in ''[[The Promise (2016 film)|The Promise]] '',  a 2016 American [[Epic film|epic]] [[Historical drama|historical]] [[Drama (film and television)|drama]] film directed by [[Terry George]] and starring [[Oscar Isaac]], [[Charlotte Le Bon]] and [[Christian Bale]], set in the final years of the [[Ottoman Empire]]''.''

==''The Forty Days of Musa Dagh''==
These historical events later inspired [[Franz Werfel]] to write his novel ''[[The Forty Days of Musa Dagh]]'' (1933), a fictionalized account based on his detailed research of historical sources.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zhang |first=Yicheng |date=2020-03-19 |title=The Forty Days of Musa Dagh – Genocide, Resistance, and Revelations for Today |url=http://yris.yira.org/comments/3814 |access-date=2022-05-30 |website=The Yale Review of International Studies |language=en-US}}</ref> Werfel told reporters: "The struggle of 5,000 people on Musa Dagh had so fascinated me that I wished to aid the Armenian people by writing about it and bringing it to the world".<ref>{{cite book|last=Bobelian|first=Michael|title=Children of Armenia: a forgotten genocide and the century-long struggle for justice|pages=83|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ub2DrB95gXgC&q=musa+dagh&pg=PA83|isbn=9781416558354|date=2009|publisher=Simon and Schuster }}</ref>
[[The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (film)|A movie of the same name]] was released in 1982.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138989/ |title = Forty Days of Musa Dagh| website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref> Six years after the novel was published, when [[Nazi Germany]] started conquering Europe, the copies of “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh” spread widely among young adults, some of whom found themselves in circumstances similar to those faced by Armenians. The book was popular in [[Warsaw Ghetto|Warsaw ghetto]] and [[Vilna Ghetto|Vilna ghetto]] and when the Jewish resisters decided to fight back in the [[Białystok Ghetto|Bialystok ghetto]], they spoke of the ghetto’s “Musa Dagh” moment at the planning meeting.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lebovic |first=Matt |title=How Armenia's 1915 'Musa Dagh' fighters inspired Jews to resist Nazi genocide |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-armenias-1915-musa-dagh-fighters-inspired-jews-to-resist-nazi-genocide/ |access-date=2022-05-30 |website=www.timesofisrael.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

An eyewitness account from the [[Deir ez-Zor|Deir-az-Zur]] Region in Syria was provided by a Turkish officer, a Jewish Ashkenazy settler from the [[First Aliya]], born in [[Rishon Letzion]], Eitan Belkind.<ref> Belkind, Eitan, This is How it Was, [Tel Aviv] 1972, reference in Hebrew Rishon Letzion City Archives https://gen.rlzm.co.il/persons/%D7%90%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%9F-%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%93/</ref>

==Gallery==
{{Gallery
|width=210 | height=170
|align=center
|File:Musadagh.jpg
 |Armenian combatants in Musa Dagh
|Image:French warship picking up a boat full of Armenian refugees fleeing from the massacre of their people by Turkish forces during WWI.jpg
 |A French warship embarks [[Armenians|Armenian]] [[refugee]]s from Musa Dagh in September 1915.
|File:Musa Dagh Stadtmulde.JPG
 |Location of the Armenian camp during the resistance.
|File:Musa Dagh Schiffsdenkmal.JPG
 |The remains of the monument near the top of Musa Dagh in memory of the French warships that rescued the Armenian people on 12 September 1915. Picture taken on 12 September 2015, the 100th anniversary of the rescue.
|File:M 100 15 génocide des Arméniens.jpg
 |French magazine ''{{ill|Le Miroir (weekly photographic magazine)|lt=Le Miroir|fr|Le Miroir (hebdomadaire photographique)}}'', 24 October 1915
|File:Musa dagh French warship.png
 |The French warship ''[[French cruiser Guichen (1897)|Guichen]]'', pictured above, participated along with several cruisers in the rescue of some 4,000 Armenians who had taken shelter on Musa Dagh.
}}

==See also==
*[[Armenia–France relations]]
*''[[The Forty Days of Musa Dagh]]''
*[[Vakıflı]]
*[[The Promise (2016 film)|''The Promise'']], a 2016 film climaxing around the events of 1915 on Musa Dagh
*[[Kessab]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite encyclopedia | title = Musa Dagh | first1 = Raya | last1 = Cohen | authorlink = | encyclopedia =  Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online | editor = Dan Diner | editor-link = Dan Diner | publisher = Brill Online | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jewish-history-and-culture/*-COM_0565 | year = 2017}}
*{{cite book |last1=Sensenig-Dabbous |first1=Eugene |title=The Armenian Genocide Legacy |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-137-56163-3 |pages=229–242 |language=en |chapter=The Musa Dagh History Hike: Truth-Telling, Dialogue and Thanatourism}}
* {{cite journal|author=[[Andrekos Varnava|Varnava]], Andrekos ([[Flinders University]]/[[DeMontfort University]])|author2=Trevor Harris ([[Université Bordeaux Montaigne]])|title='It is quite impossible to receive them': Saving the Musa Dagh Refugees and the Imperialism of European Humanitarianism|journal=[[The Journal of Modern History]]|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|volume=90|issue=4|pages=834–862|date=2018|doi=10.1086/700215|s2cid=149636135}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160614084329/http://mousaleranjar.com/ Official Website]
*[http://mousaler.com/home.html Home of All Musa Daghians & Anjarians]
*[http://www.armenian-genocide.org/musa_dagh.html Armenian National Institute entry on Musa Dagh]

{{coord|36|15|30|N|35|54|13|E|region:TR_type:mountain|display=title}}

{{Armenian Resistance}}
{{Armenian Genocide}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Armenian resistance during the Armenian genocide]]
[[Category:History of Hatay Province]]
[[Category:Former Armenian inhabited settlements]]